The present disclosure generally relates to clothing, and more specifically to a shirt or other garment having a retainer for rolled-up sleeves.
Many individuals like to “roll up” the sleeves of a long sleeve shirt. This is typically done by unbuttoning one or more buttons which may be located on the cuff of the sleeve and then folding the cuff outward and upward. The preferred number of folds varies by individual, although a common preference is to fold the cuff (and any subsequent overlapping layers present after a previous fold) two or three times. When an individual is particularly active, however, the rolled-up sleeve may tend to come undone. This can result in an unkempt appearance and/or, worse, result in the unrolled sleeves interfering with the individual's various activities. Accordingly, some shirts contain features for retaining the sleeves in a rolled-up position.
The most common sleeve retention device involves a button attached to the exterior of the sleeve and a long strip of fabric attached to the interior of the sleeve. The long strip of fabric contains a button hole at or near the free end. As the wearer rolls up his or her sleeves, the long strip of fabric will become exposed, allowing the wearer to pull the fabric strip up around the free end of the sleeve and, using the button hole at or near the free end of the fabric strip, fasten it to the button on the exterior of the sleeve. In this way, the fabric strip creates a loop that holds the sleeve in a rolled-up position.
Another common sleeve retention device moves the button to a location on the fabric strip itself and replaces the exterior button with a small loop of fabric. Just as in the previously-described design, as the wearer rolls up his or her sleeves, the long strip of fabric becomes exposed, allowing the wearer to pull the fabric strip up around the free end of the sleeve. Instead of fastening the free end of the strip to the exterior of the sleeve, however, the wearer threads the fabric strip up through the exterior loop and then back down so that the button hole at or near the free end of the strip can be attached to the button located elsewhere on the fabric strip. As in the previously-described design, this creates a loop that holds the sleeve in a rolled-up position.
Both of these designs are easy to manufacture and easy for a wearer to use. However, they each involve a relatively long strip of fabric. The long strip of fabric increases manufacturing costs, especially when one takes into account the amount of fabric needed to place such strips on shirts manufactured in volume. Additionally, the long strip of fabric may cause discomfort when the sleeves are at full length, as it will contact the wearer's arm and generally increases the bulkiness of the shirt. The long strip of fabric can also be a nuisance when the sleeves are rolled up, as it may tend to stick out the bottom of the sleeve when a wearer roll his or her sleeves up only partially or when a wearer rolls the sleeves up fully but does not wish to use the retention mechanism. Finally, even when used to maintain the sleeves in a rolled-up position, the loop created by the long strip of fabric has the potential to get caught or snagged during various activities and adds a significant, and potentially undesirable depending on an individual's preference, visual element to the shirt.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide a garment, such as a shirt (which, as used herein, should be understood to include any garment having sleeves for a wearer's arms, e.g. jackets, coveralls, etc.) having an improved sleeve retention mechanism. In particular, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide a shirt having a sleeve retention mechanism that (a) is less expensive to manufacture than the designs described above, (b) provides a wearer with greater versatility in terms of how he or she chooses to roll up the sleeves, and (c) has a more streamlined appearance that does not involve large loops of fabric.